More or less than friends?
by imfromvenus
Summary: Sapphire loves the sea, she loves Ingo, she loves the sea creatures and the Mer people but more than anything she loves Faro. Faro/Sapphy
1. He's back!

I can't sleep tonight. I can hear the sea through my open window. The waves are calm and gentle on the sandy shore and Ingo is peaceful. I close my eyes and sigh in happiness. My Mer blood and my Earth blood aren't fighting anymore; I can live in both worlds.

"Sapphire..."

I sit up suddenly. It's been ages since Ingo called me. I can still visit and talk to Elvira and the dolphins and the other sea creatures but it hasn't needed me for months.

Oh crap. Just by thinking about it, Faro comes into my mind.

He's the reason Ingo hasn't called me. He's gone.

The pain in my chest comes back. I try and calm myself down as the sobs rise in my throat.

"He's not gone forever. Just a little trip..." I whisper to myself

But even the thought that he'd return couldn't take away how much I miss him.

"Sapphire…"

I listen more closely this time. It's not Ingo's voice. It's his! Faro's back!

I smile, wiping the tears away. I put on my jeans and a tee shirt and tiptoe downstairs, careful not to wake anybody. As soon as I'm out of earshot of Mum, Connor and Roger, I start to run.

"He's back!" I tell the world. "He's back!"

I rush down to the cove, stumbling on the rocks and grazing my knee but I don't care. All I can think about is him. I look at the _debulk _around my wrist, the two strands of hair almost identical.

Then my feet touch the wet sand and I'm running towards the sea. As soon as I'm deep enough, I break the surface of the water and swim towards deeper water.

"Hello sister" the little shallow water fish greet me.

"Hello brothers and sisters" the liquid language flows out of my mouth.

But then I heard his voice.

"Little sister?"

"Faro!" I swim towards the sound.

Ten seconds later we meet in a flurry of bubbles as he hugs me.

"Sapphire!" he says happily with his face buried in my hair "I've missed you so much"

I inhale his salty, masculine scent. "I've missed you too Faro"

He takes my hand and we dive into a current. I feel alive again as the water rushes past me.

"Faro!" I shout. I don't expect an answer, I just want to tell him how amazing this is.

He understands.

"I know, Saph" he hesitates "It's never the same without you…"


	2. A dream come true

**Faro's POV**

"It's never the same without you…"

After the idiotic words escaped my mouth, I couldn't look at Saph. I try to look into her mind and can see she was so confused she had forgotten to put her barriers up.

She was thinking about the weeks when I was "travelling". I hope she never finds out what I was really doing.

I see her in her bedroom, crying. She's thinking of me and there's a pain in her chest. I can't hide my surprise that she felt the same way I did when we were apart. I need her. And from what I've just seen, she needs me.

A new memory takes over her mind. We're both floating in the sun water. I'm holding her hand and we're laughing. With a shock, I realize I'm seeing her dreams.

In the dream, I pull her close and kiss her neck, her cheek and finally her lips.

I pull out of her mind and look over at her and see that she's blushing. I realize I am too.

Our eyes meet and she sees that I've been in her mind.

"Faro!" she squeals indignant.

I feel her barriers go up in my mind.

She's blushing furiously now.

"Did you…did you see my…my dream?" Sapphy asks in a small voice.

I answer her by taking her hand and swimming up to the sun water. She realizes what I'm doing and smiles at me curiously.

I pull her close and imitate her dream.


	3. I'm sorry

**Sapphire's POV**

He kissed me! He actually kissed me!

All the doubts and worries I had about him disappeared as soon as our lips met. He's the _one _, it doesn't matter that him and I are from different worlds. It doesn't matter that I'm human and he's Mer. As long as we're together, nothing matters, nothing can hurt us, nothing can get in our way.

And with this realization, comes another; the reason for the hole in my chest while he was away. I love him; I've loved him since that day on the rocks when he first showed me the way into Ingo. All this time I thought I was in love with Ingo, the sea, the magical world he introduced me to, but I wasn't, I was in love with _him_, the inexplicable pull I felt towards the sea was because of him. He was the one I was living for.

I returned his kiss, then drew away and laughed at the confused expression on his face. I hugged him again but this time it felt so much more special, so much more _intimate _than before.

Sapphire- he whispered into my hair- I love you.

Faro…-I said slowly- I love you more!

He laughed and kissed me again.

…

Sapphy!

I recognized the voice immediately and broke away from Faro. It was Gisli, my little half-brother. His name means "ray of sunshine" and I guess that's what he's been to me after Dad's death. Connor hates him though, he doesn't want to remember Dad, he doesn't want to remember anything about Ingo. He's left his Mer blood behind, as if it had never existed and let his Earth blood take over…

I'm brought of my thoughts by a sharp pain in my ribs. I can't breathe. I can't believe how stupid I've been, thinking of Earth, of Connor, while I'm in Ingo. But luckily we're in the sun water, so when Faro takes my arm, with just a few pushes of his powerful tail, we break the surface. I gasp in the air and only when I've got my breath back do I notice the pain on Faro's face.

Oh, Faro!

I'm…fine- he says trying to reassure me

No you're not!

I take his hand and together we dive back into Ingo.

I'm sorry Faro. I was so stupid…

He silences me with a kiss.

Don't worry. It only hurts so bad because I haven't been into air for a while.

Sapphire?

In the panic, we had forgotten about Gisli.

Hey sweetie- I say, opening my arms as he swims to me- How's my baby brother?

I not a baby no more, Saph- he says

I look at him and see that it's true. He's turned into a toddler, losing some of his baby fat and swimming more strongly. I laugh at the absurdity of calling him a _toddler_. If anything he'd be a…a swimmer?

You're right- I tell him- you're not a baby anymore.

I tol you- he smiles- but, where you been? I hasn't seen you in azes and azes!

I've been busy, Gis- I tell him- But look who's back.

Fawo!- he squeals catching sight of him.. I miss you- he tells him seriously.

I missed you too- laughs Faro

Come see wha' I foun'!

We obediently follow him to a sunlit valley in the sand. Fish dart in and out of the lazily waving seaweed that surrounds the little clearing.

It's beautiful- I gasp

Not nearly as much as you- Faro whispers in my ear.

I smile and look down at the valley again. Then something clicks.

Oh shit!- I squeal- It's sunlight!

Faro realizes what I'm talking about and his happy expression changes.

I'm sorry- I say- I've got to go.

He takes my wrist and swims into a current. The happiness is gone from his face and now he's worried or angry or…I don't recognize the expression on his face. When we arrive at the cove, he grabs me and kisses me fiercely.

I love you, Saph. I'm sorry.

He turns and swims away, quickly being lost in the water.

I swim as fast as I can towards the shore, worried and sad about the possible meanings behind his words.

I think about him all the way home, not even bothering to make up an excuse. As I walk up the path I hear Sadie barking to announce my arrival and Mum opens the door. She's very pale and she runs up to me and hugs me. Her hug brings the tears I've been trying to keep down to the surface.

Sapphire! You're soaked through! Where've you been! I've been up since 6 o'clock looking for you!

She looks at me and sees the tears.

What's wrong?

I break away from her and run into the house, ignoring Roger and race up the stairs to my room, with Sadie following me. I lock the door after her and throw myself down on the bed, hugging her and burying my face in her long fur.

And I cry myself to sleep with Mum and Roger outside my door wondering what in the world could be wrong.

And the truth was, I didn't even know.


	4. Connor

**Connor's POV**

Yesterday I got a call from Mum. She told me that Sapphire had come home a week ago, in the late morning, soaking wet and crying, and since then had only come out of her room once and had then come back a few hours later in the same state as before.

I told her to stay away from Ingo. And now she's gotten hurt.

So now I'm on my way home to see if she's okay.

Well she's obviously not okay.

But I'll do my best to help.

…

"Sapphire?"

It's one o'clock in the afternoon and I'm outside her bedroom door. I got here late last night and slept on the sofa because I can't get up to my old room, seeing as I'd have to go through Sapphy's room to get there.

She doesn't answer unless you count pausing in her sobs for a second as an answer.

She's been crying since she woke up around three. In the morning.

"Saph? It's Connor"

"Connor?"

God, she sounds awful.

"Can I come in? Please?"

She's silent for a few seconds and then I hear her footsteps coming to the door. When she opens it and I catch sight of her, I can't help but gasp. Her eyes and face is red and covered in tears. Her hair obviously hasn't been washed since the last time she was in the sea and it's tangled and greasy. She's dressed in the clothes she came home in a week ago and they've obviously dried while she was wearing them and haven't been washed. I can smell the sea salt on her.

She hugs me tightly and cries on my shoulder for a while. I try to comfort her but she just sobs harder.

"Shh, it's okay, you're alright. Saph, what happened to you? You can tell me. I know you've been in Ingo, I can smell it on you and I can see it in your face."

"Fa…Faro…gone. We…can't see each other…ever…never."

She dissolves into sobs again.

"I think…I can…show you."

"What?"

She doesn't answer but takes my hand in hers and cups my face with the other. She looks into my eyes and suddenly she's _inside_ my head. Or I'm inside hers. She shows me a confused jumble of memories.

_Faro and her in the sun water…his lips on her skin…his tongue touching hers…_

I can sense her embarrassment. She didn't mean to show me that.

_Them holding hands…Gisli showing her the valley…Faro whispering in her ear…_

She gasps as she turns on to more painful memories.

_His voice "I'm sorry" and the sight of him disappearing into the depths…Mum and Roger in the kitchen…tears…_

_Sneaking out the next day to the cove…meeting Faro…"I can't see you ever again…unless you become Mer"…"But, Faro, I can't…Mum, Connor, Sadie…"…"Then I have to go, Saph…I'm sorry…I love you"…his lips on hers for an instant then his retreating back…_

She falls backwards, exhausted.

At least she's stopped crying.

"Saph, how did you do that?"

"Fa…" it obviously hurt to say his name "_he _can see into my mind and I can see into his and as you're my brother, I thought it'd work as well…but it's different…"

A part of what she just showed me came to my mind.

"Saph, you never would, would you? Turn into one of them?"

No answer.

"Sapphy, please don't say you've actually considered…"

She doesn't answer. I start to panic.

"No…Sapphire…"

"I'm sorry, Connor. I can't promise something that I can't be sure about."

"Don't be stupid…you don't want to be Mer…do you?"

"I'd like you to go now, please Con."

This horrible calm was much worse than when she'd been crying.

"But, Saph…"

The window blew open and she got a faraway look on her face.

"No…I won't…you can't make me" she whispered "Shut up! Be quiet! Leave me alone!"

The shouts brought the tears back and I went to close the window. I locked it with the key she keeps on her dressing table and then pocketed the key.

"Please don't leave us, Saph"

I left the room and headed for the little path that only we knew.


	5. I lied to her

**Faro's POV**

I've got to go. Get away from here.

I've got to forget all about Sapphire.

Even thinking her name makes my heart ache.

I'll go visit Elvira. My _real _sister. She'll help me to forget.

And I have to forget because I felt it. The temptation to give up being Mer, give up the sea, the animals, my tail…All for her. Because now I feel as if there's not enough oxygen in the water to keep me alive.

Only Sapphy can do that.

The worst bit is that I lied to her. I remember our last conversation:

_I can sense that she's in Ingo. I can't hear her, or smell her, or see her, but I _know_ that she's here._

"_Faro?"_

_I race towards her voice as if I only have seconds left._

"_Sapphy. I knew you'd come."_

_I shudder at the sound of my voice. It sounds so _cold.

"_Why did you say you were sorry?"_

_I know straightaway what she's talking about._

"_Because I know that we can never be…Saldowr saw my memories, he found out about _us_….I can't ever see you again…unless you become Mer" _

Or I become Human, _I complete in my head._

"_But, Faro, I can't…Mum, Connor, Sadie…"_

"_Then I have to go, Saph" I can hear the pain my voice "I'm sorry…I love you"_

_I pull her to me and kiss her quickly._

_Then I turn away and leave her. She's close enough to the cove to find her way back._

_I can feel her in my thoughts. She's hurting a lot._

"_I'm sorry, Saph" I say, more to myself than to her._


	6. Confrontation

**Faro's POV**

As I'm preparing to leave, a voice interrupts my thoughts.

"Faro! I know you're there, you inhuman bastard! Come out right now!"

Ah, it's Connor.

I surface and grimace at the pain in my lungs. "Hello Connor, it's nice to see you too" I say sarcastically.

He dives into the water and swims over to me. But he doesn't enter Ingo. Apparently he wants this confrontation to be in Air, where he's the strongest.

As soon as I'm in his reach, he slaps me across the face.

Well I can't say I didn't deserve it. Sapphire deserves much better than me, I should never have let her know how I feel about her. Then maybe she wouldn't have realized that she felt the same way and would have fallen for a human.

It would be much healthier for her.

"Aren't you even going to fight? You really are a mer_maid _aren't you? Well, go back to sitting on rocks and combing your hair and don't ever come near my sister again!"

He's very upset. And very angry. Sapphire must be pretty unhappy.

Even thinking her name hurts me.

"I didn't intend to. Believe me, Connor, I love her. I'm going away so that she can be happy. We can't be together without her having to change and I can't put her through that."

He's obviously thinking of a smart answer to that.

"Why don't _you _change then, if you love her so much? I swear, if you take her away from us, it will be the last thing you'll ever do"

How could he have known that? He's cleverer than I give him credit for. Maybe Elvira really did love him...

Well, there's no answer to that. I really am a coward. I definitely don't deserve someone as brave and as lovely as Saph.

"Make sure she's happy, please. And…if you ever forgive me, could you come and tell me how she is?"

I see the disgust on his face.

"Oh, and don't let her come into Ingo again. I don't want her to get hurt."

With that I turn tail and swim away.

Coward.


	7. Life goes on

**Sapphire**

It's been two weeks since Connor came home. School has started again and I'm doing my best to be normal, as if nothing has happened.

After school, I usually go around to Rainbow's house for a while and we chat about unimportant things and do homework. We're doing a project together about genes and DNA and stuff like that but at the moment all we've done is download a couple of drawings of DNA patterns.

In the evenings, Rainbow, Patrick, Connor and I go up to our house, to the cove or to their house. In our back yard, we light a fire and sit and talk for ages, completely forgetting everything and everyone outside of our little circle of deckchairs.

Today, Rainbow and I are lying on her lounge floor, doing Maths homework. Algebra...ugh, it always makes my head hurt with all the letters and confusing formulas. The guys are supposedly making coffee in the kitchen but so far, they've just been shouting a lot and laughing.

I push my notebook away and put my pen down.

"Come on" I say "We'll do this later, let's go see what the boys are up to."

Rainbow looks up gratefully and pushes herself up on her elbows, putting a hand out for me to pull her up.

We open the kitchen door and are greeted by a scene of total chaos. I duck as Connor throws a handful of suds at us but it gets Rainbow behind me right in the face.

I laugh at her face and Connor's.

"Oh, sorry, I was, um...I was aiming for-"

He was cut off as Patrick dumped a bowlful of water over him. Rainbow laughed and threw a wet sponge at her brother, while I filled a cup with the soapy water from the sink and chucked its contents over the guys.

The war continued until we were all slipping on the wet kitchen floor and we were soaked through.

My mobile started ringing in my pocket as we sat down for a rest. Crap. This is why Mum was so reluctant to buy me a new mobile, because I always manage to get it wet. I wipe it off with a dishtowel that's escaped our miniature tsunami.

"Hello?"

"Sapphy! I've been ringing for the last half hour!"

Oh crap.

"Sorry, Mum, we were having a water fight." Laughter in the background from Roger.

"Anyway, how are things over there?" I ask, changing the subject.

Mum and Roger have gone back to Australia for a while because...something about an old shipwreck and diving.

At first they were reluctant to leave because of the state I was in, that's one of the reasons I tried so hard to act normally.

Of course, Faro's absence still hurts, mostly at night. Connor sleeps in my room most nights; he brought his mattress down from his bedroom and holds my hand to keep the bad dreams away.

"Everything's great, thanks. Just the other day, Roger and his diving friends found an amazing site for a dive and they're getting everything ready..."

I let her carry on talking, filling in her pauses with "Wow!" "That sounds great." "Cool."

"How are you, Saph? Are you feeling better?"

She asks the same thing every day.

"Yeah! I'm feeling much better, in fact today Rainbow, Patrick and i were going to go down to the beach and Patrick's going to show me how to surf..."

I carry on, telling her unimportant things, like the bonfires at night and how we had gone up to the hills to watch the stars.

"It's wonderful that you're feeling well again, Saph. Can I talk to Connor please?"

I pass the phone to him gratefully. Talking with Mum always leaves me exhausted.

"Come on" I say to Patrick and his sister. "Let's get this cleared up, then we can go down to the cove with Sadie."

So, even when your hearts been broken and the person you most love has swum away, life goes on and time heals old wounds.

I hope.


	8. It's all pointless without her

**Faro**

I've been travelling for two weeks now and I must admit, the whole ocean, the whole world, every single corner of Ingo where I could lose myself in the beauty of the reflections dancing in the water, of the gently swaying seaweed, of the wild currents that surround you and pull you along until your entire being melts into their playful pathways weaving throughout the tapestry of the world, all of this seems pointless without Sapphire.

Never has the chatter of the dolphins; the insults of the seagulls; the wise, half-crazy mutterings of the deep-diver whales; the pointless aims and reasons of the little darting fish in that play in the shallows; never before have they seemed so unappealing.

I'm bored with my world. It used to entice me, to hypnotise me, to captivate me by its never-ending mystery and beautiful waves, when each clump of seaweed hid another small miracle. Now, it seems boring and things that used to bring me so much joy, such as the sea anenomies tentatively putting their tentacles out to taste the water, the seahorses' dances, a crab's aimless scuttling across the seafloor, intent only on getting to the next shelter; hurt me. Her presence lingers in all of my memories and I can hardly remember my life before I met her.

All I want is to go to her and hold her again. But I can't, because I'd have to leave again and I can't survive seeing the pain on her face once more.

I'm not healthy for her, she deserves to have a full life, to grow up, fall in love, get married to someone who fully understands her Air-life, someone who could go everywhere with her, walk with her, someone who could, far in the future, give her a child without her having to constantly worry that the pull of Ingo would be too strong for the child to resist.

Someone who can breathe air without the burning pain ripping at his lungs and the dizziness filling his head so that he temporarily doesn't know which way is up or down.

The debulk around my wrist hurts me more every time I look at it, but I can't bring myself to tear it off. Distracted as I am by my thoughts, I don't see the pointed rocks that block the path of the gentle current I'm in. I swerve to the left but too late, I cut my arm and the blood stains the water red.

I feel the nearby group of seal-feeder sharks' attention shift to the scent of fresh blood. They're hungry and don't hear that I am Mer, not simply a wounded seal. They circle me and one comes at me, missing me by less than a hair's breadth. As he turns, his tail collides with my head, sending me into the rocks.

"Sapphire..." my pitiful whisper is lost in the sound of the ever-moving sea as the sharks close in, sensing that their prey is not going to fight back.

Everything goes black.


	9. Please be okay

**Connor**

Sapphire's so much better now, it's hard to believe that only a little while ago, she would cry herself to sleep and refused to eat.

If you look deep into her eyes you can still see the pain there but it's not such a raw wound anymore, it's not as close to the surface as it was.

Still, it upsets me that she got hurt at all.

At the beach, she runs across the sand after Sadie, laughing happily. I join Patrick in the water while Rainbow sits on the towels that we brought and takes photos of everything she sees: Sadie, Saph, me, Patrick, seagulls, the sea...

Across the beach I see Saph stop running and put her hand to her wrist where she still wears the bracelet that she and Faro wove from their hair. She sways slightly on her feet and looks out to the sea, in the direction that I saw Faro leave. Sadie, seeing that the game's over, goes to her side and nudges Saph's leg with her nose.

Even from where I am, I can see on my sister's face that Ingo is calling her.

I start to run towards her but she has already closed her eyes and lost herself in the enchanting song that the sea sings to her. She turns toward the sea and I see the worry etched on her face.

What could be wrong now?

**Sapphire**

I run across the sand after Sadie. I love being with her, her Earth presence brings all of the wonderful things that I love about Air to mind.

Just as she turns back to see why in the world I haven't caught up with her yet, I feel a distinct sense of wrongness. Something's wrong with Faro, I'm sure of it. I can hear Ingo calling to me, trying to alert me so that I can help him.

The debulk on my wrist itches and, as I put my hand over it, I sense that Faro has headed north-east. I look out over the sea in that direction and send out a call with my thoughts, even though I doubt he'll hear it.

_Faro! Please be okay!_

I close my eyes and know that I have to go to him. My feet touch the water and I smile, the familiarity of the situation was comforting. I walk into deeper water and prepare to dive into Ingo.


	10. Spilled blood and unknown words

_**I'm so, so so so so so so sorry about not updating! It's a bit complicated to explain but mostly the reasons are exams, boys, the sun and a maths competition that's pretty important. Sorry! Hope you find this chapter worth the wait!**_

**Sapphire**

Ingo greets me. It's happy to see me. I'm met by a dolphin, her beautiful, muscular body weaving through the currents towards me.

I open my mouth, letting the essence and spirit of Ingo run into my lungs.

"Hello" I say, the musical language leaving my lips and becoming part of the entrancing fabric of this world.

This world, my world, Ingo...

"Hello, air-breather. Ingo has missed you."

"Sorry"

"No matter..." she looks at me and sees my obvious agitation. "What's wrong?"

"Faro's hurt and I can feel him but..."

She turns her strong back to me, inviting me to climb on.

"Thank you" I whisper to her, opening my mind to hers so she can feel my connection with Faro. Her smooth tail whips up and pushes us forward, into a wild, strong current that leads towards him. I know I'm safe with her and spread my consciousness out to the whole sea, trying to feel Faro's mind. I'm not aware of my body, but I trust the dolphin with my life.

After a few minutes, I sensed him near. The dolphin stopped and broke out of the current, so deep in my mind that she felt my intentions. She butted my leg gently with her snout to wish me luck and turned tail, just a bit, letting me know that she would leave me and Faro alone until I wanted her there. I closed my consciousness to her gently, almost asking her permission and searched for Faro's brilliant and familiar presence.

He was unconscious; I could feel it, but still holding on, however weak his hold on the world was, he wasn't going to let everything, all the beauty that surrounded him and that he is, at least to me, fade into blackness.

I swim towards the clearing where I know he is and see him, floating with his hair forming a halo around his head, in the middle of a circle of about four sharks. How dare they hurt him? How dare they even be near to him? How dare they try and take him away from me?

The unfamiliar anger rises like bile into my throat. It burns my mouth as the unstoppable flow of musical words comes out. The sharks turn and obviously listen and understand the moving, flowing words that I'm sure I've never learnt.

The words stream out of me and I can feel them draining my strength until I can hardly breathe. It stops just before I faint from lack of energy and I take a deep breath trying to steady myself. I don't know what just happened or why it happened, all I know that I appear to have woven my surroundings into a picture I like better; in other words, the sharks have swum away and the gash on Faro's head is no longer pouring blood into the sea.

I swim towards him and take his hand carefully, not wanting to hurt him. He opens his eyes and smiles at me.

"It's nice to see you again, Saph" he whispers.


	11. Panic

**Connor**

Oh fuck. As soon as Sapphire dived, I could see that Ingo welcomed her back. Patrick laughed at my panicked expression and called out to Sapphire to come out, that she was making "old worry-wart" (me) panic. He only stopped joking when two minutes had gone past and Saph still hadn't resurfaced.

Rainbow, however, understood my panic immediately. She's terrified of the sea, quite like Mum. That's why I feel the way I do about her; she's Earth, Air and pureness. When Sapphire dived, she ran straight to the sea edge, not daring to get any closer than to let the breaking waves touch her bare toes.

Patrick, having realised it was not a joke, dived in after her, thinking that she had banged her head and was unconscious under the sea's skin. He soon gave up, having dived to the bottom and revised the whole cove.

"What the hell's happened? Did she get caught in a current or something?" he asked the air

I stayed quiet, knowing exactly what had happened. Rainbow started crying silently, her tears mixing with the rain that had started to fall.

I walk to her side and put my arm around her.

"She's not dead, Ray, I swear."

She wipes her eyes and looks at me sadly.

"What are the chances, Con? I'm sorry, but it's more or less the same thing as what happened with your dad..."

My insides turn to ice.

"Don't bring my dad into this" I say, so fiercely that Rainbow draws away and looks at me, upset. "She's not dead."

I start to walk towards the sea, not caring who saw me, or who found out about Ingo.

Patrick stops me just as I'm waist deep in the cold water.

"Connor, man, stop it. I'm serious. The best thing we can do now is call the Coast Guard, they'll find her. But...I'm sorry, mate, but you got to accept that if they find anything, it's not going to be good news, you know that, right?"

"Let go of me" I growl, trying to throw him off.

He's too strong and I give up and let myself be dragged back to their house.

But I'm not giving up.


	12. A promise

**Sapphire**

I'm still breathless from the energy that the words took from me. Faro smiles at me and pulls me into his arms, ignoring the fact that he nearly died a few minutes ago.

I kiss him desperately, trying to make him see how much I need him. He pulls away unhappily.

"Saph...I'm going to have to go away again. I can't be with me, no matter how much I want to. You have to understand that."

I nod, giving up completely. He kisses me again softly but I leave my lips still and unresponsive, knowing that he'll leave soon.

I don't want any more good memories. They hurt so bad when you remember them and know that you'll never experience them again.

"Goodbye Faro. I love you."

My lips form the words and my heart breaks again.

"Goodbye Saph. You know I love you more than anything else in this world."

That hurts, as I know it's a lie.

**Faro**

"Goodbye Saph. You know I love you more than anything else in this world."

It doesn't sound right, even though I know it's true. I do love her more than anything; I'm just too much of a coward to leave my world for her. My world isn't the same without her, surely that's proof that she's my world, that she's the only thing I need to live.

I love her more than I love Ingo.

And I'm not tied to anyone here.

Mother and Father are long dead. Saldowr has cast me out, saying that a true apprentice of his should never fall for temptation.

Sapphire's my temptation, she's my downfall. My fall into real life, into happiness.

I can go into Air because my mother was like Sapphire, Earth and Ingo mixed. She fell in love with a mer man and turned Mer.

Elvira isn't my true sister, even though our mother is the same, her father is the man that Mother changed for. He was killed in a shark attack; only a year after Mother became Mer.

She gave birth to Elvira whilst being courted by my father. I was born when Elvira was one year old. When I was about 2 weeks old, Mother died.

I was put into Saldowr's care and Elvira was taken into the healer's school. We both grew up believing we were true brother and sister. I found out the truth when I was sixteen, shortly before I met Sapphire. I saw my mother in Saldowr's mirror and learnt she was half Ingo, half Earth.

That was when I first tried going into Air. The first time, it was agony but when I told Elvira and we tried it together, we started getting used to it. Then she met Connor.

Connor told Elvira and I about his sister, Saph. We showed him Ingo. I soon got bored of his company and started to wonder about Sapphire.

So when I saw her following him down to the cove, I climbed onto the rocks and waited for her. I showed her the way into Ingo and fell in love with her.

I got to the point of believing that we were destined for each other. Then Saldowr saw my memories, told me that it couldn't be and cast me out.

**Sapphire**

He seems lost in thought and I don't want to disturb him. Gently, I cast my consciousness out and try to wriggle past the walls he has around his mind.

He's far too strong and I give up after a while.

"Faro?"

He jumps and laughs at himself.

"Go home, Saph, Connor will be looking for you. I'll see you soon, listen for my voice at night time."

He turns tail and rushes away.

I hurry to do the same and stop Connor from going crazy. But inside, I'm glowing at the promise he made: I'll see you soon.


End file.
